(notice how clean the new ones look above the old ones :D - not for long though!)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
New Shoes!
Remember how much I loved my shoes? I mean l-o-v-e-d them? Well I found another pair at a great price online and ordered them quickly as the yellow ones were nearing 400 miles by the end of this month. They came on Thursday (a rest day) and Friday I took the day off after donating blood, so what better way to welcome them to the collection than to trot them around town? I took them out of the box, laced up, and went for a 12 mile jaunt through all the best neighborhoods and paths - Ardmore, West End, Buena Vista, Graylyn Estate, Reynolda Estate, Wake Forest campus and back on up the hills to the house. When they arrived Thursday, I did the obligatory things as a runner - took them out of the box, took a big sniff of the new rubber smell, and commenced their arrival with a photo shoot :D. I didn't realize what color the new ones were going to be, but was happy to see they were "Dark Gray and Vaporize (menthol green/blue)" instead of the hot pink or purple.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Spring Cleaning
Upon picking up and doing a little Spring Cleaning, I discovered we may have a (running) shoe fetish ...
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Punxsutawney Phil
A few weeks ago, dear Phil said 6 more weeks of winter and I think he was right. We've gotten more snow and it has been cold and blustery more often than not. But this weekend...oh, this weekend...What a tease of Spring to come! Saturday was 57 degrees and sunny which of course required a long run through parks and the estates of Winston Salem. On what should have been my Half race day, I couldn't help but leave the frustrations of not racing out on the road and do a hard 8 miles at sub-9 minute mile pace. It felt great - very encouraging of where my running progress status is!
Today was another b-e-a-utiful day with a high of 61 degrees. I dug around in the dresser and pulled out my spandex running tank and track shorts from last summer (pleasingly more loose fitting than in the fall) and headed out to the track. I did a warmup on the cross country course and then headed onto the lanes for an 8 x 400 at 5K pace. I ran almost all my laps in the 1:50s instead of 2:00, but it felt great even though I ran hard yesterday. Accordingly, I'll take tomorrow as a rest day and skip a 3 mile maintenance run that I had planned (I ran 2 miles warmup/cooldown instead of 1, so I'm already getting ahead on mileage this week and I need to be careful after a taper week). Aside from the walkers and dog-walkers and kids running unattended on the track (mostly inside lanes, ergh), the speed workout went well and I was pleased.
Sadly, I know this weather was a tease and this week will return to cooler temperatures but I am grateful that the Springtime weather landed on a weekend for us to take advantage of it.
Today was another b-e-a-utiful day with a high of 61 degrees. I dug around in the dresser and pulled out my spandex running tank and track shorts from last summer (pleasingly more loose fitting than in the fall) and headed out to the track. I did a warmup on the cross country course and then headed onto the lanes for an 8 x 400 at 5K pace. I ran almost all my laps in the 1:50s instead of 2:00, but it felt great even though I ran hard yesterday. Accordingly, I'll take tomorrow as a rest day and skip a 3 mile maintenance run that I had planned (I ran 2 miles warmup/cooldown instead of 1, so I'm already getting ahead on mileage this week and I need to be careful after a taper week). Aside from the walkers and dog-walkers and kids running unattended on the track (mostly inside lanes, ergh), the speed workout went well and I was pleased.
Sadly, I know this weather was a tease and this week will return to cooler temperatures but I am grateful that the Springtime weather landed on a weekend for us to take advantage of it.
The best laid plans...
The last two weeks have been a bit crazy. I was doing my last week of training for the Half before tapering and the runs were going well. It's been a cold, snowy year so far but runners will be out there no matter what. I had done a 13.5 mile run after the Krispy Kreme Challenge and knew I was ready for the race. I wanted to run the trails to practice on the trails but Pilot Mtn has been closed for the last few weeks due to snow/ice. Tapering went well this last week, although I wasn't used to running a lower mileage week and really had to fight the urge to go out for a few extra miles.
Then then email came.
Due to 6 inches of snow and ice on the trails, the Pilot Mtn Half has been postponed until (drum roll please ...) APRIL 10th! That's six weeks! Part of me was glad to have the extra training time, but I think a larger part of me was ready to run the race and get my first half done and over with. I worry about injury between now and then, but I've decided that this is the race I have trained for - the race that intrigued me enough to sign up for a half - and I'll hold out and wait for the new race date.
Thus, a whole new training plan has been unleashed. I had planned out my training for the Feb 20th race well and wanted to make sure that I feel as good on April 10th as I did on Feb 20th. Step 1 - print out calendars for the next three months. Step 2 - get out mechanical pencils and engineering erasers. Step 3 - plan, plan, plan.
So I sat down and looked at the big picture, planning long run and then added in speed workouts and maintenance runs before totaling weekly distances and monthly distances. After erasing and rearranging many runs so that mileage slowly increases and harder workouts are well spaced. By now, I've really gotten a feel for the amount of effort different workouts take and how much I can run the following day. I'm feeling confident with the plan (which of course is subject to change). And most importantly, a new race day has been sketched into the plan - Saturday April 10th - until then...
Then then email came.
Due to 6 inches of snow and ice on the trails, the Pilot Mtn Half has been postponed until (drum roll please ...) APRIL 10th! That's six weeks! Part of me was glad to have the extra training time, but I think a larger part of me was ready to run the race and get my first half done and over with. I worry about injury between now and then, but I've decided that this is the race I have trained for - the race that intrigued me enough to sign up for a half - and I'll hold out and wait for the new race date.
Thus, a whole new training plan has been unleashed. I had planned out my training for the Feb 20th race well and wanted to make sure that I feel as good on April 10th as I did on Feb 20th. Step 1 - print out calendars for the next three months. Step 2 - get out mechanical pencils and engineering erasers. Step 3 - plan, plan, plan.
So I sat down and looked at the big picture, planning long run and then added in speed workouts and maintenance runs before totaling weekly distances and monthly distances. After erasing and rearranging many runs so that mileage slowly increases and harder workouts are well spaced. By now, I've really gotten a feel for the amount of effort different workouts take and how much I can run the following day. I'm feeling confident with the plan (which of course is subject to change). And most importantly, a new race day has been sketched into the plan - Saturday April 10th - until then...
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Race Recap - Krispy Kreme Challenge
First and foremost - I apologize for the delay in the recap - it's been a busy week.
Last Saturday, we awoke before the birdies to do something that usually only hungover co-eds think to be a normal activity. It was a cold morning, but the weather was holding up - they had been calling for freezing rain/ice/snow the days leading up to the race. We got parked in the parking deck and set off for the belltower, passing our old dorm and many crazies in their costumes. Once we arrived at the belltower, Chris and I took off (all bundled up) to do a warmup jog and stretch. We arrived back at the start line about 15 minutes before the start and found a nook in the crowd of 6,000 that was somewhat close to the front. A minute before the start, the snow flurries started, only contributing to the hushed excitement at the start line. Chris was stripped down to his fantastic costume at this point and was getting plenty of looks. (I'm sure they were all positive ones - many were taking pictures). Fortunately, with all the closely-packed bodies waiting for the race, there was plenty of body heat to go around.
The gun sounded and the crowd tip-toed forward, much like a game of bumper cars. What I hadn't realized is that not even 20 yards from the start line was a round-a-bout under construction that split the course. I honestly would call the next 100 yards "extreme racing". There were random curbs, traffic cones, traffic barrels, potholes...you name it, it was there. And with 6,000 people packed in, there was little advanced notice before someone dodge a traffic barrel leaving you a split second to save yourself or careen into it. Fortunately, I found a more open spot in the crowd and was able to dodge all aforementioned items. (I did hear however, that the group of 6 guys in full body suits where leap-frogging the traffic barrels - wish I had seen that!). I could tell my form was good as I took off, picking off one person at a time. The air was cold, but I was feeling strong and enjoying the brisk pace I settled into. The majority of the course to Krispy Kreme was flat or downhill, and knowing my belly would be less-than-empty on the return, I pushed this first leg.
I rolled into the Krispy Kreme shoot at about 17:30 (7:30 pace!). It took me about a minute/minute and a half to find the water and walk through the crowded mess to squat and start making my donut stacks. I'll try to make narrate my thoughts during this stop:
- Grabbed three donuts (#1, #2, #3), smashed them together and proceeded to dunk them in the 2 cups of water I had
- Squeeze excess water and gobble
- 1st stack - piece of cake
- Oh crap! I meant to do 3 stacks of 4, not 4 stacks of 3!
- Smashed the next 4 donuts together (#4, #5, #6, #7)
- Dunk, squeeze, eat, repeat
- 2nd stack - no problemo!
- Smashed the next 4 donuts together (#8, #9, #10, #11)
- Tore stack in half, got 1/2 dunking while I ate the other 1/2 that had already been dunked
- Man, this last stack is getting tough
- Oh gross (note to self - don't look at sugary nasty donut water, definitely don't drink it - I drank the water at the Matt Gfeller 5k and it was a very bad idea)
- Finishing last 1/2 of last stack - oh HoLy! Small bites, small bites...
- Now what the heck am I going to do with this last one?
- Fold last donut in half and smash it to make a mini stack
- Started walking to the water station/exit shoot while eating the last donut (#12)
- Grabbed an extra cup of *clean* water, drank a few sips
- Tossed empty (!!!) box of donuts into the "Finished" stack and ran through the Challengers shoot to exit Krispy Kreme and get a chip time for the stop
(Chip time = 28:15 which means the donut stop was about 11 minutes, about 9:30 spent eating the donuts).
I rounded the corner out of Krispy Kreme and got into gear. I really wanted to run faster, but thought it best to reserve speed until the end seeing as I was unsure how these 12 doughnuts were sitting on my stomach - I felt full, but not sick).
I trekked on back, keeping an even pace and cresting hills. For me, the hills weren't very bad but I guess you can blame Winston-Salem on that - Raleigh is considerably flatter and so all the locals were puttering out on the hills. (And I must say that I enjoyed picking them off one by one as I passed them up the hill). I picked up the pace just a bit more when the "Finish" banner was in sight and crossed the finish line with a time of 48:19! This means that my second leg of the run (which was slightly longer than the first) was run at 8:11 pace for an average course pace of 7:47!!!! I'm thinking that a 5K is in order soon to see if I can get my PR down to that speed without a donut stop to rest. Chris finished in 41:44 - whew! Our friend Garrett got a fair amount of donuts down for his first race and Chris's sister Lori successfully completed her first race that day as well!
As I reflect on this race, I'm quite glad we did it - the charity was great (NC Children's Hospital), but the doughnuts were tough. I was the 17th female to complete the challenge and Chris finished in the top 10% of males too. However, I think I may forgo the doughnuts next year and run as a casual runner. As much fun as I was having that day, I really wanted to run a fast race - I just love getting out there and pushing it to my limits. Here are some pictures from the race:
Chris coming into the finish
Me near the start (in pink)
Another one of me during the "extreme racing" portion
Eating the donuts (on far left)
Me coming across the finish
Last Saturday, we awoke before the birdies to do something that usually only hungover co-eds think to be a normal activity. It was a cold morning, but the weather was holding up - they had been calling for freezing rain/ice/snow the days leading up to the race. We got parked in the parking deck and set off for the belltower, passing our old dorm and many crazies in their costumes. Once we arrived at the belltower, Chris and I took off (all bundled up) to do a warmup jog and stretch. We arrived back at the start line about 15 minutes before the start and found a nook in the crowd of 6,000 that was somewhat close to the front. A minute before the start, the snow flurries started, only contributing to the hushed excitement at the start line. Chris was stripped down to his fantastic costume at this point and was getting plenty of looks. (I'm sure they were all positive ones - many were taking pictures). Fortunately, with all the closely-packed bodies waiting for the race, there was plenty of body heat to go around.
The gun sounded and the crowd tip-toed forward, much like a game of bumper cars. What I hadn't realized is that not even 20 yards from the start line was a round-a-bout under construction that split the course. I honestly would call the next 100 yards "extreme racing". There were random curbs, traffic cones, traffic barrels, potholes...you name it, it was there. And with 6,000 people packed in, there was little advanced notice before someone dodge a traffic barrel leaving you a split second to save yourself or careen into it. Fortunately, I found a more open spot in the crowd and was able to dodge all aforementioned items. (I did hear however, that the group of 6 guys in full body suits where leap-frogging the traffic barrels - wish I had seen that!). I could tell my form was good as I took off, picking off one person at a time. The air was cold, but I was feeling strong and enjoying the brisk pace I settled into. The majority of the course to Krispy Kreme was flat or downhill, and knowing my belly would be less-than-empty on the return, I pushed this first leg.
I rolled into the Krispy Kreme shoot at about 17:30 (7:30 pace!). It took me about a minute/minute and a half to find the water and walk through the crowded mess to squat and start making my donut stacks. I'll try to make narrate my thoughts during this stop:
- Grabbed three donuts (#1, #2, #3), smashed them together and proceeded to dunk them in the 2 cups of water I had
- Squeeze excess water and gobble
- 1st stack - piece of cake
- Oh crap! I meant to do 3 stacks of 4, not 4 stacks of 3!
- Smashed the next 4 donuts together (#4, #5, #6, #7)
- Dunk, squeeze, eat, repeat
- 2nd stack - no problemo!
- Smashed the next 4 donuts together (#8, #9, #10, #11)
- Tore stack in half, got 1/2 dunking while I ate the other 1/2 that had already been dunked
- Man, this last stack is getting tough
- Oh gross (note to self - don't look at sugary nasty donut water, definitely don't drink it - I drank the water at the Matt Gfeller 5k and it was a very bad idea)
- Finishing last 1/2 of last stack - oh HoLy! Small bites, small bites...
- Now what the heck am I going to do with this last one?
- Fold last donut in half and smash it to make a mini stack
- Started walking to the water station/exit shoot while eating the last donut (#12)
- Grabbed an extra cup of *clean* water, drank a few sips
- Tossed empty (!!!) box of donuts into the "Finished" stack and ran through the Challengers shoot to exit Krispy Kreme and get a chip time for the stop
(Chip time = 28:15 which means the donut stop was about 11 minutes, about 9:30 spent eating the donuts).
I rounded the corner out of Krispy Kreme and got into gear. I really wanted to run faster, but thought it best to reserve speed until the end seeing as I was unsure how these 12 doughnuts were sitting on my stomach - I felt full, but not sick).
I trekked on back, keeping an even pace and cresting hills. For me, the hills weren't very bad but I guess you can blame Winston-Salem on that - Raleigh is considerably flatter and so all the locals were puttering out on the hills. (And I must say that I enjoyed picking them off one by one as I passed them up the hill). I picked up the pace just a bit more when the "Finish" banner was in sight and crossed the finish line with a time of 48:19! This means that my second leg of the run (which was slightly longer than the first) was run at 8:11 pace for an average course pace of 7:47!!!! I'm thinking that a 5K is in order soon to see if I can get my PR down to that speed without a donut stop to rest. Chris finished in 41:44 - whew! Our friend Garrett got a fair amount of donuts down for his first race and Chris's sister Lori successfully completed her first race that day as well!
As I reflect on this race, I'm quite glad we did it - the charity was great (NC Children's Hospital), but the doughnuts were tough. I was the 17th female to complete the challenge and Chris finished in the top 10% of males too. However, I think I may forgo the doughnuts next year and run as a casual runner. As much fun as I was having that day, I really wanted to run a fast race - I just love getting out there and pushing it to my limits. Here are some pictures from the race:
Chris coming into the finish
Me near the start (in pink)
Another one of me during the "extreme racing" portion
Eating the donuts (on far left)
Me coming across the finish
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The Rundown - Krispy Kreme Challenge
Today was my last run before Saturday's K2C race. I went out for an easy 3 miles to keep the legs loose and mileage on schedule. The Krispy Kreme Challenge is a race at my alma mater organized by some guys I knew from the honors dorm. It raises an amazing amount of money for the NC Children's hospital and has been the talk of ESPN in previous years. Saturday's race is coming quick and another winter storm is on it's heels, so here's the rundown:
Date: Saturday, February 6, 2010
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Distance: 4.91 miles (estimated)
12 Donuts: 2400 calories, 1200 fat calories, 36g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 60mg cholesterol, 1140mg sodium, 120g sugar, and 24g protein...
Challenge: Run from the bell tower at NCSU downtown to the Krispy Kreme store. Eat a dozen donuts and haul ass back to the bell tower without presenting partially digested donuts. All in less than an hour while dodging the 5,999 other maniacs who decided to do this challenge. Fortunately, there are trash cans lining the course.
I'm planning on pushing the first half of the run (sans donuts) and then make 3 stacks of 4 donuts smashed together. Then truck it back (w/o getting sick) in less than an hour. I'm hoping to run 8-8:20 pace for the first half and get the donuts down in 12 minutes. I've got a little practice with the Winston Donut run that I came in 2nd at, but I *know* this is going to be much more challenging. I'm excited for this first race of the season, if for no reason other than Chris will be debuting his amazing costume (see slideshow on left column) at the K2C. Running with us at this race are our longtime friend Garrett and Chris's sister Lori! Some of our local friends are also making the trip out to do it because we've talked it up so much. Right now they are calling for 33 degrees and rain at the start of the race. This may worry you fair-weather runners, but I see this and smile - remembering Tuesday's fantastic run!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
A lesson in optimism
Yesterday was a lesson in optimism. The snow was still piled up around town but streets were becoming navigable once more. But while the roadways showed thawing, the sidewalks were still a wreck. If I had to guess, maybe a third had been shoveled and the remainder were a fantastic terrain of oddly packed snow/ice that had been traversed in such a way that no level patch existed, only a compilation of icy footprints on top of each other. On top of all this, it was 34 degrees and pouring rain as I walked home from work. I stepped out of my office door and sighed - this was not a run I was looking forward to. I grumbled my dread to my mother on the phone while I walked.
Then I got home, remembered my awful run on Sunday and decided that this could in fact be a good run. With the music blaring, I got changed and stretched out and started with the positive thinking. On my way out the door, I may have even chanted "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." The crisp air called me and I took off falling immediately into a comfortable stride. The pathways called for quick footwork as I dodged icy patches - perfect practice for my upcoming trail race and keeping the run fun and lighthearted from the start. Knowing that the roads and sidewalks were in poor condition, I did not leave the house with a particular pace in mind, but rather with the goal to have a "good run" - especially after Sunday. I got off crowded main roads quickly and wound my way through the Ardmore side streets. At the first mile mark, I checked my watch - 9:00 easy minutes. I continued on and at the 2 mile mark - 17:44. The third and fourth mile involved many long hills so I "geared down" and shortened my stride, keeping my knee drive high and quick. The run felt quick but comfortable and the cold rain felt refreshing. At the fourth mile mark, I was under 9 minute pace which surprised me still. The steam billowed off me under the streetlights and I trucked on back to the house to finish up an "easy" 5 miles in under 44 minutes (8:40 pace) - keep in mind my 5K PR last fall was only 8:32 pace. I shook off on the porch and headed back in for a well deserved warm shower, feeling invisible and suddenly more enthused for the Krispy Kreme Challenge this weekend.
It's been quite a while since I had a short, fast race and I feel ready. I think I'm finally getting used to the idea of 34 degree rain as "good" running weather. And while the drivers I pass in their cars may think I'm crazy, the few other runners out on the road pass by with a nod and respectful wave for those who share the path with them on these days.
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